- May - October
- Full Day
Step off the roads and crowded boardwalks with an experienced naturalist guide who will lead you safely into the wild beauty of Yellowstone to our favorite mountain meadows and inspiring vistas.
Quick Details
Explore the best of the Yellowstone Volcano, one of the largest active volcanoes in the world, with a local expert guide. Yellowstone has more than 200 active geysers and over 10,000 thermal features; there is so much to explore! We will show you our favorite geysers, colorful springs and bubbling mud pots, and some local secrets along the way. This tour will be crafted around your interests and abilities and can include a longer hike to some off-the-beaten-path features as well! You will see all of these amazing features and begin to understand how and why Yellowstone is such a hotspot for them.
This day will take us down the west side of the park as we explore and unravel the mysteries of the awe-inspiring geological and thermal features for which Yellowstone drew national attention to become the world’s first National Park in 1872.
A major focus of this tour is an eruption of the world’s most famous geyser, Old Faithful. This remarkable feature, named in 1871 prior to the establishment of Yellowstone, has remained reliably “faithful” in its eruptions, and continues to awe visitors with its incredible raw power and predictable behavior. In the area surrounding Old Faithful, we can hike through a huge concentration of colorful, active pools that are home to their own fascinating ecosystems, as well as potentially witness eruptions of other spouting geysers with names like Beehive, Castle, Grand, Lion, Grotto, and Riverside!
Throughout the day, your guide will be sharing the fascinating and complex ways in which volcanism, glacial periods, plate tectonics, and hydrology have shaped the landscape and laid the foundation for the ecology and wildlife we see in and around Yellowstone today.
Gardiner, MT or Sage Lodge: 6:00am
Mammoth Hot Springs: 6:15am
Norris Geyser Basin: 6:45am
Madison Junction: 7:15am
Old Faithful Visitor Center: 7:45am
Gratuity is NOT included in the price of the tour. Tipping your guide is a common practice in North America, and tips are an important part of their income.
Yellowstone National Park is a very large place divided by mountain ranges, deep valleys and a massive lake. The weather within the 2.2 million acres can vary widely, so checking the weather in the park can be a difficult task. We recommend checking several different NOAA weather stations around the park, and working an average of those if you’re planning to travel around the entirety of the park.
As a licensed Commercial Use Permit holder with Yellowstone National Park, we must follow all park rules and regulations. Additionally, as life-long proponents of wildlife and wild places, we will also follow our own ethical practices. We will take this opportunity to teach you about how we can have the very best experience possible without having negative impacts on wildlife or on other visitors.
While on tour with Yellowstone Wild LLC, we will observe all park rules (subject to law enforcement):
Custom Portrait Adventure Photography Package
Yellowstone Wild is proud to partner with Jess at Chocolate Moose Images to offer a unique custom portrait photography package as a special add-on option for your tour. If you are visiting Yellowstone to celebrate an important milestone in your life (anniversary, birthday, honeymoon or graduation) or are simply on a much-needed family trip, our Portrait Adventure Photography Package is designed to capture your special moment. Jess specializes in classic portraits as well as highly candid photographs in and around Yellowstone National Park. She has a special gift for capturing genuine moments that vividly portray personality and emotion – and in a setting like Yellowstone, personality and emotion shine bright!
Jess will visit with you before your tour to develop a rapport, share ideas with one another and discuss how her photo shoot works. She will then join us on your tour out in the wilds of Yellowstone. She works discretely to capture meaningful moments of you exploring Yellowstone, while also keeping her trained eye open for the perfect Yellowstone-themed backdrop for your portraits. To see a sample of images from a winter tour, please visit the gallery here. If you have more specific questions about how to customize this for your adventure, please reach out to Jess.
Cost: $789 including a candid session on tour and a slightly more formal session (time to be arranged).
Final products: In total, she’ll spend between 3-5 hours with your family providing around 70 images in an online gallery. Printing services are available and highly encouraged.
Still have questions? Check out our FAQ’s page!